Kyle Mahowald, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts and Anna A. Ivanova, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Fluent expression is not always evidence of a mind at work, but the human brain is primed to believe so. A pair of cognitive linguistics experts explain why language is not a good test of sentience.
A Google engineer claims one of the company’s chatbots has become sentient. Experts disagree, but the debate raises old questions about the nature of consciousness.
New research indicates that rhesus monkeys show interoception – the ability to sense physiological processes like their own heartbeats.
Matthew Verdolivo/UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services
Researchers used a test designed for babies to show that rhesus monkeys can sense their own heartbeats. The finding opens up important paths of research into consciousness and mental health issues.
Scientists are still puzzling over the mystery of what makes us conscious.
Lidiia/Shutterstock
Plus, how a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony using AI. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
As the UK’s first clinic to offer psychedelic drugs for mental health disorders opens, a study reveals that informed users don’t have problems with self control.
Philosophers say now is the time to mull over what qualities should grant an artificially intelligent machine moral standing.
The Dalai Lama speaks about quantum effects with Chinese scientists at the Main Tibetan Temple, Nov. 1, 2018, in Dharamshala, India.
Shyam Sharma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Amid trying times, the collaboration between Western science and Eastern philosophy provides numerous health benefits and a path to understanding the natural world.
Great colours in Cappadocia, Turkey. But what are they?
Olena Tur/Shutterstock
Are you a worry wart? Not to worry. Turns out you were born that way, to some degree. Humans have a default mode in their brains that lead them to worry, but there are many ways to switch gears.
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford